Answers
by MoonlightMystery13.3
Summary: In 1.9, Meg'aan chooses Superboy over Aqualad, and it nearly costs Aqualad his life. Like the prospective leader he is, Robin wants to know why. More complete description within. T, just because I'm paranoid, and that episode was a bit dark in places. Just a fairly short oneshot.


A/N: I was bothered by Me'gaan's choice in this episode. Aqualad and Superboy both needed help. Aqualad, though, was right in front of her, and barely alive. Yes, Superboy was hurting, but Aqualad clearly needed help /stat/ or he wasn't surviving very long. And yet, even it would be faster to help Aqualad first, and then help Superboy, she still went after Superboy first. I thought about it and settled on this explanation. Enjoy (or don't, if you don't it's fine), and remember that I would love to hear your thoughts in reviews. Thanks for R&Ring, and have a great day! :)

* * *

I stood in the workout room, hands twisting and apprehension churning in my gut. I was waiting for Robin, who had pulled me aside after we'd gotten off the bioship, and Superboy was carrying Aqualad inside. Robin looked livid.

"We need to talk," he hissed, tone inviting no argument. "Meet me in the workout room first thing tomorrow." Then he stalked away, following Superboy to the sickbay.

I wish I could say that I had no idea what his problem was, or that it was probably just an immature irritation. But I couldn't, not honestly. I knew exactly why he was so angry with me, and I knew that it was probably with good reason. But I'd already talked to Aqualad about it the night before. He heard my side, and later heard Robin's, and told me simply that he was glad Superboy was safe. The problem with Aqualad is that you can never quite tell what he's thinking or feeling; if he thinks it will help a situation, he crams his feelings into a tiny box and locks them away until they can do no harm. I itched to read his mind, and see what he actually thought, but restrained myself, reminding myself that it wasn't acceptable on earth. I still wish I knew. Maybe it would help with Robin.

Yes, I saved Superboy first. I felt I had to. I /had/ to. I'm not even sure why, and that almost ashamed me. I left Aqualad to suffer because I had a feeling? A hunch? Or was it a feeling stemming from my crush on Superboy? I prayed fervently that I was not that petty. I did not want to be the girl who would sacrifice the world for someone she had feelings for. How could I? But then, why had I done it?

It was then that Robin walked in, looking grim. He could be surprisingly serious for a 13 year-old. Flames burned in the younger hero's eyes, and I sighed. This was going to be difficult.

"So?" He broke the expectant silence, eyebrow raised. "What on earth were you thinking?"

I sighed again, considering pretending I had no idea what he was talking about before realizes it would just make matters worse. "You're not going to like this..." I warned.

He laughed humorlessly. "Uh-huh. Right. I think I'll take my chances. After all, /I/ was the one who had to watch Wally and Artemis do CPR on Aqualad when he stopped breathing. And we were the ones being chased, terrified that the soldiers were going to find us and we wouldn't be able to do anything because of how weak we were. I was the one who sat with Aqualad, watching each breath and praying that it wouldn't be his last." He laughed again, emptily. "Yeah... I'll think I'll be fine."

I was shocked into silence. Of course I knew that it had been close; Aqualad is designed for water, not desert, and there would be consequences. But I'd had no idea just how close it had been. "It was really that bad?" I asked in a small, choked voice.

Robin looked hard into my eyes and softened slightly. "You really had no idea? You didn't study his bio files when you came?"

I shook my head. "I only skimmed them. I had no idea..." I sat down suddenly against one of the exercise machines. "Tell me exactly what happened, Robin. Please."

He sat down beside me, dragging a hand across his face. "I basically already have. We jury rigged a stretcher, and took turns dragging Aqualad on it. He was... bad. I've seen him hurt before, but not like this. You know Aqualad, nothing keeps him down for long. He was unconscious, delirious, murmuring. Would have been sweating buckets if he'd had any spare water in him. I..." -he paused- "I wasn't even sure he was going to survive. We were nearly caught so many times, and we knew that if we were, we would probably be doomed. I barely had any tech, Artemis was almost out of arrows, Wally couldn't run anymore, and Aqualad wasn't even conscious. Not exactly a fair fight. It sucked. But we got through it. Then, when we were almost to the ship, Aqualad stopped breathing. Wally immediately got on it, then Artemis took a turn at the CPR while he rested. It seemed like years, but we finally got him breathing again, and hurried him inside. We set him up on as many IVs as we safely could, and Wally and Artemis basically collapsed. I sat with Aqualad. It was... spooky. No, wrong word. Terrifying. Partially because he's my friend and I don't want to lose him. You guys are basically family."

Robin paused, and I didn't need mind reading powers to see the 'And I can't lose that' in his eyes. He cleared his throat, and then continued. "Plus, he's the leader. And as much as I would like to be, I am not ready to lead this team. Not yet. So I sat and watched him breathe, thinking how simple it was and yet how disastrous when absent. Then you called with Superboy, and Aqualad woke up. You know the rest."

He fell silent. I tried to digest what I'd just heard.

Then, after several moments he looked me in the eye again. "So, I ask again: What on earth were you thinking?"

"I... don't know."

He looked confused. That was not the answer he'd expected. "What?"

So I poured it out to him. How I had no idea why, but I'd had to rescue Superboy first. I didn't know. It could have been a crush. It could have been fate. It could have been Psimon's psychic energy drawing my own. But I didn't have an answer for him.

Robin nodded slowly, trying, I supposed to make sense of it. Then he spoke. "Okay. Okay, Megan, this time you get a free pass in my book. I guess you weren't sure what you were doing. But next time," he stood, professionalism drawn easily about him like a cloak, "you need to figure out what the feeling is and if it is the right thing to act on before you follow it. Do I make myself clear?"

I nodded, floating upward as well. "Perfectly."

He smiled suddenly. "Good." He nodded as well, slowly. "Good."

We stood, not quite awkwardly, staring at one another. And then the mission alert went off, and we exchanged exasperated looks.

"Come on," I said," We'd better make sure that-"

"Aqualad doesn't think he's coming too." Robin finished, not missing a beat. "Let's go."

He turned, and swiftly set off down the corridor. I followed, smile playing about my lips, and knew that, when the time came, I could trust Robin to lead us well.


End file.
